Shades of Night
by Luna Moonsurf
Summary: Alliances that tread upon shaking ground, status decided by the esteem of one's peers, notoriety earned to dubious reward, there is little better way of learning the cutthroat style of life than the act of learning itself. Welcome to your new school, kid.
1. Homeroom and Akatsuki

**Shades of Night**

**Summary**: Hinata, the new transfer sophomore, hopes everything will be alright and she'll fit in to at least _some _extent. Oh how she was wrong. But her tour guide is barely ever there to do any guiding, and everyone's vying to get a look at the new transfer, she's left to fend for herself in the high school openly ruled by gangs!

**A/N **The main pairing is, don't hate me, HinataShisui. (You know, Itachi's closest friend) Normally I'm a total NaruHina but this is an exception because originally Sakura was going to play this part but I thought it too clichéd, plus Hinata better suited for the role.

**WARNINGS: **SPOILERS FOR ALMOST EVERY NARUTO CHAPTER ESPECIALLY THE ONES PAST PART 2!! First real fic, so again please don't kill me. Currently, nothing _too _bad, just occasional use of ass (aka so far _once_) I'm disregarding all deaths and screwing with the ages. (aka they're pretty much all at high school age) I tried to keep the order of ages correct. (Ex. "Tobi is a good freshman!")

**DISCLAIMER:**la, lalala, la, lalala, lalala, lalala. Come on people, you think I _own _this?!

* * *

"Before you go honey wear this," the woman at the front desk handed Hinata a white scarf. "Kabuto will explain, dear." The woman replied to Hinata's puzzled look. The gray-haired senior had a green armband,

"So what's with the scarves?" she asked.

"They're in a way, gang symbols." he answered.

"Gang……symbols?" the lavender-haired girl repeated softly. _So much for being normal. _She thought mentally sighing. "Wait, what do you mean 'in a way'?"

"Well, this school is how you say _different. _Every person, including the teachers, wears a scarf or armband. The people who wear scarves are gang members, the ones who wear armbands are supporters. Except for people like you who hadn't been exposed to anyone so you have a white armband, basically means 'gangless'."

"What are the gangs?" She asked curious.

"Well there's Thorn, an all-guys gang, I support them." Kabuto gestured to the green armband on his left arm, "Then there's Nightshade, an all-girls gang. They of course have pink scarves. Thorn and Nightshade are allied together forming the Leaf 'Lliance. There's also the Akatsuki." Kabuto said slightly more darkly than when he was talking about the 'Lliance but Hinata didn't notice. "They have the color black and are mostly made up of juniors and seniors. The fact there's a freshman in there makes this year especially interesting. Plus with you as a transfer student, this year promises to be interesting."

She noticed a very large person passing by wearing a purple armband. "What about purple?"

A look passed over his face but it was gone as fast as it had came, "The Sound, they're an…_interesting _group. They're not very well liked by the Leaf 'Lliance. A couple of Akatsuki dislike them as well, especially the Sound's leader."

"Well, here's your homeroom," Kabuto stopped in front of one of the many classrooms, "All that's left is for you to decide the next three years of your life based solely on who you decide to sit by here and now," he said cheerfully, smiling, "Good luck." And with the expertise of someone who has been deserting newbies for long time, he disappeared.

"KMAG YOYO" Hinata muttered, looking towards where the _entire _class, with a junk-load of upperclassmen, was all staring right at _her_! "Kiss My Ass Girl, You're On Your Own."

Too late she noticed a boy with a florescent orange spiral mask on stampeding toward her and was blind-sided by a glomp-tackle. "Hi!" he pulled her up just as quickly and towed her across the room. No-one intervened, like it was _normal_, "Sempai asked Tobi to get the new girl, so Tobi- Sempai! Tobi got the newbie!" he happily raised his hand that held Hinata's at a blond boy with hair covering his left eye.

'Sempai' sweat-dropped, "Uh…thanks Tobs, un."

"You're welcome!" the hyper boy skipped back to his seat on the left side of the other boy.

The blond smiled as she sat in front of Tobi on the tiers. "Yo-ness, I'm Deidara, yeah, I'm also a sophomore-" The teacher interrupted his introduction.

"We have a new student, so please welcome Hyuuga Hinata." The way he said it seemed to say 'Don't kill the kid'. A few people waved, including Tobi, who nearly decapitated Deidara in his enthusiasm. However an orange-goggled boy near the front called out, "Nice hair, toots!" A girl with a plum-colored stripe on each cheek on his left knocked him rather hard over the head. "Ahh! Holy crap, Rin!"

"Why'd you say that, Obito?!"

Obito mumbled something about 'Ka-Ka putting him up to it' earning himself a bump from the boy sitting next to him on his right. Rin then clocked _that _boy. "Please refrain from inflicting head wounds, Miss Rin." The teacher sighed like he's said it a million times. "Sorry, Madara-sensei." She apologized, looking innocent as the two boys winced when they saw each others' massive bumps.

"Anyways, un." Deidara continued, pointing to a _very_decisively hot redhead on his right. "This is my bestfriend Sasori, yeah. He's a junior." Sasori smiled at her, "That's Tobi, un-"

"Tobi is a good freshman!"

"Err…yeah, un. And that's-"

"Konan, senior, nice to meet you," the blue-haired girl on her left said, "Finally another female sits here! I'd thought I'd have to listen to these idiots forever!"

"Hey!" Sasori protested

"You all are the Akatsuki, right?" Hinata asked.

"Apparently," Hinata had heard the dry reply come from two seats down to her right, spoken by a boy with long black hair and red eyes.

The boy in the seat between the two with a cute smile said, "Sorry 'bout Itachi, he's a junior, I guess he's sorta ticked Deidara didn't introduce him in the beginning. I'm Shisui; I'm a sophomore like you."

Madara-sensei started to call roll already, "Hakate Kakashi,"

"Present" The voice came from the previously mentioned 'Ka-Ka'.

"…Hyuuga Hinata"

"Oh! Here!" She had been listening to Shisui's jokes about how he screwed-up a 'decoding ancient symbols' section in history and came up with interesting results, mainly several inappropriate words. Shisui was quite cute, not like the famous Sasuke, who she's yet to meet, supposed boyishly-handsome which attracted a massive amount of fangirls, nor like Sasori's sizzlin' hotness which created stalkers, but somewhere in between.

"Nara Shikamaru" A loud snore served as a reply.

"Nobel Deidara"

"Yo, un." Deidara smiled proudly, "I'm a direct descendant of Alfred Nobel, yeah, inventor of the Nobel Peace Prize and dynamite, un!"

"Why would someone-"

"It's a long history lesson." Konan said in response to Hinata's unfinished question.

"Uchiha Itachi"

"Hn." He didn't even look up from the romance novel he was writing, why he was writing it, Hinata decided not to ask.

"Uchiha Obito"

"Ow! Here." The boy with the violent friends was gingerly rubbing his two goose-eggs he had got.

"Uchiha Sasuke"

"Hn." _So _that's _the class heartthrob. _Hinata thought _Doesn't look like much; the only interesting about him is that poem he's writing…At least I _think _it's a poem. _

"Uchiha Shisui"

"Hn." He answered then snickered. "It's always fun to annoy uncle Madara like that, he hates one syllable answers."

"Uncle?"

"Oh yeah, all us Uchihas are related." Shisui explained, "Sensei is my second uncle though. In fact the only ones who are brothers are Sasuke and Itachi-"

"Hey! Don't use me in the same sentence as that baka!" Sasuke yelled at the same time Itachi said "Don't use me in the same sentence as that brat."

Deidara, Sasori, Konan, Shisui, and Hinata all sweat-dropped… "Yeah, they may be a junior and sophomore in high school, but when it comes to each other they act like they're two."

"Uchiha Tobi"

"Tobi is here!"

"Oi! Obito's sleeping again!" Shisui said excitedly as he pulled out a slingshot and a misshaped paperclip. "Watch this." He whispered conspiratorially even though there was no need to lower his voice, they couldn't be heard anyways. She loved stuff like this; he'd never had a chance to do this because all the others had better things to do. He carefully aimed it at the sleeping Uchiha and was about to release when his 'uncle' shouted,

"Uchiha! Pay attention!"

This caused him to start and shoot wide, hitting Shikamaru instead. But this didn't matter because the intended target sprung to his feet and yelled,

"THE ANSWER IS 4,857, REPORTING FOR DUTY, UCHIHA OBITO!" even saluting at the finish. The brothers looked up from their work with an "Hn." Shisui used the commotion of Tobi jumping up and saying "Tobi is sorry, sir!" to hide his slingshot.

Hinata laughed at the antics of the Uchihas and Shisui's guilty face. "Is it always like this?" she asked Konan.

The senior laughed, "No, not even on the first day of school. I guess it's just all the change."

"Change?"

"Of course, _you_, we've never had a new kid sit here. Especially one escorted by someone like Kabuto."

"I take it you don't like him."

"It's not so much him as whom he hangs out with."

"Who he hangs ou-"

She was interrupted by Shikamaru stomping up to Shisui; it seems he found out who shot him. "Why'd you do that?!"

"I was aiming for Obito; I wanted to put another knot on his head."

"Well you hit me! Now I have a massive bump from where you pegged me with your screwed-up paperclip!"

"Maybe if you hadn't been sleeping it would have missed." Shisui pointed-out barely holding back a smile; he was thoroughly enjoying this, something Hinata took note of.

"If your second cousin-"

"fourth" he corrected grinning on the edge of laughter.

"-whatever, hadn't been sleeping, you wouldn't of shot it!"

"Well, I don't know about that-"

"Break it up, break it up!" Madara called at them after calming down the rest of the class. Shikamaru walked away muttering about 'troublesome Uchihas'.

"Aww man, I wanted to make a perfect triangle of bumps on Obito's head." Hinata laughed at Shisui's disappointed tone.

Deidara looked slightly shocked, "That's weird, un. Nara's never like that. Me thinks he doth dream of Temari too much…yeah." He made kissy-faces at the back of Shikamaru's head.

"Your mind is a badly-thrown bowling ball, ya know that Deidara?" Konan said seriously.

He laughed, "Ah, but if my head's in the gutter, your lightning rod is five lanes down."

"No," Itachi said without a flicker of a smile, "He's blasted into the next alley." Even Hinata giggled at the glare sent the two boys.

"Hey, Uncle-Sensei is giving back tests!" Shisui said.

"I told you not to call me that!" Madara said, ticked-off as he passed out their tests.

Hinata looked over to see Shisui's 87. He noticed this, "Yeah, I'm pretty average." He said rubbing the back of his head.

She snatched it from his hand, nearly giving him a paper-cut, to look it over. Raising an eyebrow she said, "Hardly, you got this killer extra-credit!" Shisui lightly blushed. "I would have never have gotten it. Math's like my worse subject." She finished.

"No way, un!" Deidara exclaimed causing the two to look at him, "How'd draw that graph so well, un?!" he asked Sasori.

"Manga artist." He answered waving his pen in his best friend's face for emphasis. He glanced to others' papers. Konan had 100 plus partial bonus. His gaze fell on where Hinata noted Itachi's left eyebrow was twitching and he was muttering about not seeing that last zero. "Holy crap!" Sasori shouted as he fell forward onto Itachi, causing Itachi's paper to fly upward where Deidara snatched it from the air.

He stared at it in shock, "Itachi got a 99, yeah!" The whole class stormed the rows to see, causing Madara-sensei to roll his eyes but allowed it to happen nonetheless.

"This coming from the one with the 38!" Itachi growled back, swatting at everyone, threatening bloody murder.

"It's not my fault; I didn't know a lightyear was a unit of distance, un!"

"Itachi isn't normally like this," Shisui explained the Hinata, "he usually gets 100s so this injured his pride-"

"Yes, his _pride,_" Konan interrupted, "his pride was ever so bruised. More than it would usually be."

"Wh-"

"Sasuke isn't breathing!" Tobi said happily. True, the younger Uchiha brother seemed to be laughing so hard he faced death by oxygen deprivation.

The bell rang and the class stampeded out, laughing and chatting. Hinata was gathering her books when Tobi glomp-tackled her from behind, knocking them from her hands. "What does Newbie-sempai think of school with Tobi?!"

"Very…," she looked to where Shisui was laughing with Itachi over something on the test and Konan was folding a page of Sasori's manga into a swan as Deidara held back the redhead, laughing. Obito was running from Rin, hands protecting his head, and Madara was lazily tossing chalk pieces at the, again, sleeping Shikamaru, while a whiskered boy was helping Sasuke struggle to retain a straight face. "Interesting," Hinata decided, "this will be very interesting."

* * *

**Info on Nobel:**Alfred Nobel created the Nobel Peace Prize when the newspaper wrote an obituary for his brother, thinking it was him. "The man who invented a way to kill many people at once died last Tuesday..." Yeah, that turned his act around.


	2. Hallway and Nightshade

**Shades of Night**

**Summary**: Hinata, the new transfer sophomore, hopes everything will be alright and she'll fit in to at least _some _extent. Oh how she was wrong. But her tour guide is barely ever there to do any guiding, and everyone's vying to get a look at the new transfer, she's left to fend for herself in the high school openly ruled by gangs!

**About the Pairings:**The main pairing is, don't hate me, HinataShisui. (You know, Itachi's closest friend) Normally I'm a total NaruHina but this is an exception because originally Sakura was going to play this part but I thought it too clichéd, plus Hinata better suited for the role. Side pairings are for humor purposes only, I do _not_ ship half the pairings shown here.

**Warning: **SPOILERS FOR ALMOST EVERY NARUTO CHAPTER ESPECIALLY THE ONES PAST PART 2!! EVEN THE DISCLAIMER HAS SPOILERS!! First real fic (poems don't count!), so again please don't kill me. Currently, nothing _too _bad, just occasional use of ass (aka so far, the count is: 1) I'm disregarding all deaths and screwing with the ages. (aka they're pretty much all at high school age) I tried to keep the order of ages correct. (Ex. "Tobi is a good freshman!") So far the word has not been used in this chapter.

**WARNING TO END ALL WARNINGS:**The Authoress is a _hopeless_ romantic and will most likely 'squee' over her own work if she deems it necessary to do so she put in romantic references when not really needed. In addition her pet-poet is hopeless _perverted _and will probably try to slip in something.

**Disclaimer:**If I own Naruto, Itachi would not be dead; he would be in a coma. He creeps me out but he was a major character!

* * *

When Hinata finally got through the crowd blocking the only way out, she realized some things never change. She stared at the incoming and outgoing tides of students, and only one way to go. Hinata valiantly stepped into the crowd, hoping not to get infected with Swimming-Upstream-Syndrome otherwise known as one class going in, one class heading out, and our poor heroine stuck in the middle. But SUS is highly contagious and she ended up being bumped, shoved, and crammed into a ton of people. She would have been surely trampled if not for the daring and heroic rescue by Shisui. Said rescue consisted of her being pushed into his arms, (A/N: kidding hopeless romantic, remember?) really it was more like his left side and Shisui taking her arm and telling her to stick close. (A/N: SQUEE!) He escorted her to the small vacant area around his best friend, its usual two feet radius extended to five due the recent test scores inducing a rather dark aura to surround Itachi.

"Ah, fresh air!" Shisui declared when they got out, happily throwing his arms in the air, causing Hinata to laugh. Shisui bid goodbye to Itachi once Hinata had reached Kabuto.

"What class do you have next?"

"Oh, umm…" she checked her schedule, "History with Asuma."

Kabuto smiled sweetly, "Sorry, my class is in the opposite side of the building. Can you get someone else?"

If this was a comic-strip Hinata would have a scribble mark above her head. _Yeah right, _Hinata thought, _you just want to ditch me. _"Fine-"

"Kabuto are you trying to abandon your new kid _again_?!" A girl with bright pink hair demanded.

"No! I'm telling the truth this time!"

"'This time'?" Hinata inquired dryly, "So this is a regular occurrence?"

"Err…" Kabuto sweat-dropped, "I'm gonna be late." And he zoomed off.

"What was that about?" Hinata asked.

"We Nightshade members are renowned for our strength." The girl flexed her arm and Hinata noticed the pink scarf around her neck.

"And short temper," A voice yelled 50 feet down the hall. The surrounding students inched away from Kabuto like he was radioactive.

"I'm going to save the janitor the gore," the rosette said annoyed, not looking in his direction, "and pretend I didn't hear that." There was a sigh of relief from some brunette guy with a broom muttering about the lack of feminine girls in the school. Kabuto laughed as he kept walking, like he'd that one before.

"Don't mind him," the girl said, "seniors have to escort a new student or freshman to gradate, but Kabuto does such a horrid job every time, the principal makes him do it over every time. Some do it early to prevent senior-itis from requiring treatment." Hinata thought back to the odd attachment Tobi had for Deidara. That explained things.

"My name's Sakura, by the way," she stuck out a hand to Hinata who did the same, "Looks like you need a guide." Shisui opened his mouth to offer his services when Sakura continued unaware, "I happen to have the same class, so I'll show you the way."

"Thanks."

Shisui deflated as they walked away and Sasori patted his shoulder, "Bad luck, but she has to decide for herself who her friends will be," he grinned and nudged him, "I doubt she wants only female friends, and Konan hardly counts. Ow!"

A paper airplane collided with the side of Sasori's head, "Holy crap! What's this thing made of, lead?!" As he opened it and shouted about him not being a 'twoser' in the general direction of its point of origin, Shisui mused, "Maybe…because she laughed at my jokes and acted so…so…"

"-like a guy?" Sasori finished for him, sporting an immaculate bump, "You, my love-deficit friend, have a crush."

"No, I don't. Even if I did, which I don't (A/N: DENIAL!), I don't think she would fall for the most unattractive Uchiha in the entire school. Well, excluding Uncle-sensei." He was nailed in the back of the head with a piece of chalk.

"For the last time, dear nephew, it's _Madara_-sensei!" the teacher yelled from the classroom without looking away from his class, "Call me that again, I'll have Tsunade makeyou the least attractive Uchiha!"

"Woooo, teacher threat!" A voice called from inside the classroom.

"Quiet, Kiba! I'm running out of chalk."

Shisui poked his head inside and stage-whispered, "I always knew something going on between them."

"Yeah, how else could he get Tsunade to rearrange your face," Sasori amended in a false replica of Shisui's tone, appearing beside him.

Their comments earned them each a blackboard eraser peg-to-the-forehead, knocking them over, or allowing them to fake getting knocked over, comically onto their backs. The entire class burst out laughing along with the two currently on the ground. Even Madara-sensei cracked a smile.

Meanwhile in Asuma's classroom Sakura introduced Hinata to Rin, a Nightshade member who nearly beat Obito's head in, and Ino, a Nightshade supporter with blond hair like Deidara's. (A/N: Everyone describes Deidara's hair style to be like Ino's so I decide to change it up a bit so, XP)

They'd decided to quiz her on school so far, like if she knew where the toilet was, if there was any harassment, (at this point they cracked their knuckles menacingly until Hinata assured the contrary), but most importantly…

"Met any guys ya like?"

"What?" Hinata turned slightly pink.

"Ah c'mon," Rin said with a sly grin, "You were sitting with like five guys. Don't tell us you didn't find _one_ of them _vaguely_ attractive?!"

"Fine," Hinata admitted, "Tobi was cute-"

"He doesn't count," Ino said, waving a hand, "he's cute in a 'oh my gosh, I want to _squeeze_ you!' teddy bear kind of way. You know what we mean."

"You were sitting with four other guys, _Newbie-senpai_, what about them?" Rin probed.

"Deidara's nice and friendly," Hinata continued, "but his family history seems pretty sketchy…Sasori," the girls leaned in. Hinata sighed at their anticipation, "is too hot to be true, but not my type."

"Of course not," Sakura said logically as they all leaned back, "He's no one's type. But it doesn't change the fact he's major eye-candy." The girls giggled at her word for the manga artist.

Ironically, this was about the time the heavily chalk-dusted duo arrived. Right in time for that comment to be heard by the two, to be exact. The former redhead, now sporting white hair, blushed and the grey-haired Shisui snickered. He wasn't laughing for long.

"I guess…Shisui is funny and sorta hot in a way," the oblivious Hinata mentioned.

"Someone's got a crush!" the girls chorused.

Shisui turned a beautiful ripe red and Sasori couldn't speak through his laughter. His laughter echoed down the halls as he left for his own class, until a half-eaten apple was pelted out of Madara's classroom right into his head.

"Stop cackling, old man," the teacher growled.

Shisui was too riveted listening to the current conversation to appreciate that moment.

"Shisui? Isn't that Sasuke's brother's best friend?"

"Oh yeah, I almost forgot about Itachi!"

_Great,_Shisui thought as he sat down, _I'm some person's brother's best friend. Same tone of voice as 'Carol's brother's ex-wife's third cousin'._

The whiskered boy from earlier looked at where Sasuke was emanating a dark aura from the door at Hinata.

"Itachi's okay, kinda rude though."

The ill intent shrank away and the whiskered boy tackled Hinata, "Hi! I'm Naruto! I don't want you getting a tainted idea before meeting us all!" He dragged her to the front of the room despite the three girls' protests and sat her down.

_Tobi,_ she thought, dazed, _he's just like Tobi._**

* * *

History Lesson:**Believe it or not, this was actually going to be somewhat of a drama-fic, thus the gangs. So be thankful it wasn't because then it wouldn't be posted. (by the way at one point it was going to be an original story but it was too complicated to do so, this was when it was still a drama-fic)

**A/N:**I'm uber sorry for not updating! My computer was constantly being taken by a 'malevolent spirit' aka my evil twin. Plus there's an uber long process to this: 5 or 6 drafts. Actually more like 3, but it can vary. First there's the drama draft, then the rewritten, then the one I actually plan on posting, then my evil twin edits/completely rewrites it, then I combine on paper, finally I type it. Yeah, add in sophomore and junior honors level courses given to us poor freshmen and _that's _why I take so long. Also the teachers refer to students by their given names because there are usually more than one of the same last name. (ex. Uchiha times six)


	3. New People, New Powers

**Shades of Night**

**Summary**: Hinata, the new transfer sophomore, hopes everything will be alright and she'll fit in to at least _some _extent. Oh how she was wrong. But her tour guide is barely ever there to do any guiding, and everyone's vying to get a look at the new transfer, she's left to fend for herself in the high school openly ruled by gangs!

**About the Pairings:**The main pairing is, don't hate me, HinataShisui. (You know, Itachi's closest friend) Normally I'm a total NaruHina but this is an exception because originally Sakura was going to play this part but I thought it too clichéd, plus Hinata better suited for the role. Side pairings are for humor purposes only, I do _not_ ship half the pairings shown here.

**Warning: **SPOILERS FOR ALMOST EVERY NARUTO CHAPTER ESPECIALLY THE ONES PAST PART 2!! EVEN THE DISCLAIMER HAS SPOILERS!! First real fic (poems don't count!), so again please don't kill me. Currently, nothing _too _bad, just occasional use of ass (aka so far, the ass count is: 2) I'm disregarding all deaths and screwing with the ages. (aka they're pretty much all at high school age) I tried to keep the order of ages correct. (Ex. "Tobi is a good freshman!")

**Disclaimer:** If I owned Naruto, Tobi would be a good boy, not Madara.

**Author's Note:** I noticed in many of other stories there are warnings to flamers, so here they are:

Dear flamers, play with fire and you _will_ get burned. (by my rabid pet poet)

Dear generally spiteful people, my gift to you: the four-finger-fold.

(by the way, the 'four-finger-fold' is not a thumbs-up.) I've had some mean things said 'bout me in other places I put my creations so just a precaution. I'm sorry if the characters seem OOC (some really are) I'm not the best at this fic writing thing and Hinata's stuttering is too much for my slowing typing hands can handle. Other than that and a couple of people's personalities (you can tell whose) warn me if anyone is too OOC. Just add in something other than just pointing out my flaws in reviews (even if it's just constructive criticism) Anyways, enjoy!

* * *

The girls reluctantly moved their things near where Naruto had taken Hinata and sat down. "Hey, Obito, how ya doing?" Rin grinned at the boy in front of her.

"Rin! Abandon ship! Mayday! Mayday!" he held his textbook over his head protectively.

"So what are the Akatsuki like?" Naruto asked, passing the current event as a natural occurrence.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Come on, you sat with them all last period! What were y'all laughing about?" Rin asked.

"Other than Itachi and his 99, Shisui kept making 'Uncle' comments about Madara-sensei," Hinata said as the whole table listened closely, whether they showed it or not. Apparently no one has ever given a first-hand experience with the Akatsuki. "I also got a close-up on the Uchihas' reactions to sensei's yelling."

"Okay, settle down." A brown scarf-wearing Asuma entered the room. "As you all know, considering how fast gossip travels around here, we have a new student."

"For such a large school, news spreads rather quickly." Hinata observed.

He paused then continued, "So instead of the pop quiz I had planned, because I'm positive most of you haven't even _looked _at your textbooks, much less opened them, since I passed them out a month and a half ago, you may study amongst yourselves."

Ino grabbed Hinata in a suffocating glomp, "Thank you!"

"Ino! She can't breathe!"

"My bad."

Hinata picked-up the study guide to look over where they were in class; no use to be in the Renaissance when studying World War II. Scanning it she said somewhat to herself, "This stuff doesn't look too killer…"

"Really? I always have trouble with the ancient civilizations part." Hinata jumped ten feet into the air at the voice so close to her right ear. She spun around, clutching her rapidly beating heart. What met her eyes was a tall orange-haired guy, senior likely, who was leaning over her desk with a massive grin. He had six piercings on the bridge of his nose, three running up each side.

"Don't scare the new kid, Pein; I doubt the others would approve of you antagonizing her." Konan said walking towards them.

He shifted his eyes to her, "Aww, but hazing's fun."

"Don't let Tsunade hear that," she warned, "or you'll get your ass handed to you on a silver platter."

"Excellent point." He said straightening, "Man, this scarf is _kill_-_ing_ _me_! A crapload of threads are coming loose!" he groaned while scratching under his black-with-red-clouds scarf.

"Pein, I don't care if you _are _a gang leader, you and Konan need to go back to your classroom." Asuma cut in.

"You're a leader?" Hinata asked.

"Yep, they call me Sir Leader!" he proclaimed proudly.

"I call him Sir Idiot," Konan supplied, and he shot a mock glare at her.

"Unless you are hosting a tutor session without my knowledge, please return to your classes, now," Asuma interrupted, slightly more impatient.

Pein propped his elbows on the desk between Hinata and Rin. "You can tutor _me_, Hinata."

Konan knocked him over the head, "Stop harassing the girl."

"Pein! Konan! If you don't leave, I'll give you the pop quiz!"

Pein held his hands up in defeat, "Alright, alright. We're going."

As they left, Konan said, "Don't flirt with her."

Pein gave his best puppy eyes, "But I really do need a history tutor! Will you tutor me? Ow! Meanie," he said, rubbing his head where she had slapped him. Outside, Shisui heard him call out, "Tenten! You're good at history right? No? What about you, Temari? Ow!"

"Stop asking girls for tutors," Konan ordered.

"Yes, ma'am…" their voices faded and Shisui shook his head. Itachi was the only reason he supported a gang with such a pervert for a leader.

"Was I hallucinating or did Hinata just get hit on by a senior?" Rin said excitedly.

"A gang leader, no less," Ino added.

"Akatsuki gang leader," Sakura corrected, "there's a difference."

"How'd he know Hinata's name?" Rin inquired.

"Konan probably told him," Hinata finally got a word in edgewise.

"Hey…why's Sasuke giving the stink eye?" Naruto asked, not listening to their girl talk.

"She sat with Itachi," Obito turned around, wisely leaning away from range of Rin's right hook,

"Or at least near him. Nothing more well-known in the clan than that brotherly despise-with-a-passion."

"Passion?" asked Hinata.

"Don't," Ino clarified, "leave them in a room alone. One or both won't come out."

"Ugly stuff," Naruto agreed.

"I didn't think Itachi hated, or felt any significant emotions, to any one," Hinata said, confused.

"Oh, he returns the favor," Sakura assured, "But Shisui always puts him down from really provoking Sasuke. Not very confrontational."

"That's smart," Hinata said, "words don't leave you black and blue after all."

"I dunno…" Naruto said, "the way Shisui does it, it's like a superpower. Smoothes everything over. Way better than I do."

"What do you mean? When-?"

"Are you studying?" Asuma interrupted Hinata, still annoyed at the disruption Pein and Konan caused.

"Sorry sensei."

Hinata dwelled on this supposed 'superpower'. When did Naruto witness Sasuke and Itachi fighting?

When class was dismissed, Hinata gathered her things and walked out with Rin and Sakura, Ino leaving quickly to use the restroom. Outside, there was some kind of face-off going on.

In the center of a circle of crowding students were Itachi and Sasuke with Naruto. Shisui was nowhere to be found.

"Foolish little brother, trying to make a scene?"

"You should know about that," Sasuke shot back, "That scene this morning with the test?"

"Come on, Sasuke," Naruto said uneasily, "They're going to run out of ramen!"

"Too bad."

"Going to run, little brother?"

Sasuke tensed and Itachi unnoticeably readied to fight.

"Oi!" the crowd on one side of the circle stirred and a soaking wet Shisui and Sasori burst through, "What's this about a fight?!"

Shisui's hair was half grey and half black, and although Sasori's was all red, both were dripping in water. A few girls sighed over Sasori.

"Can't two old men wash their hair in peace?!" Shisui demanded, picking up an elderly 'get off my lawn' accent, "Whippersnappers have no respect these days! Do ya want yer grandfather with half-dyed hair like one of yer punkly rock 'n tumble bands? Now off with ya! Scoot! Scoot!" he waved his hands at everyone, all laughing at his antics.

The crowd dissipated as Shisui picked out random people to berate and demand 'does yer mother know ya wear yer clothes that way' or 'you! Stop yer gigglin'! This is a serious matter!'. Sasori played along as the caring nursing home attendee, fighting off Shisui's 'I don't need yer help! Back in the day…!' and jabs with an invisible cane. By the end, everyone was laughing and walking off and that's when Naruto propped his elbow on Hinata's shoulder as she stared in shock at one particular result of Shisui's show.

It was unbelievable. It was jaw-dropping. It was…too incredible for words.

"Yeah, I was shocked the first time too. Every time since as well," he nodded to where Hinata was gaping, "Itachi laughing."

I'm uber sorry about not updating! I had a World Geo paper _and _powerpoint, plus having to share with my rabid pet poet (hehe whose name is TheRecorder) I've had almost zip computer time. I also have to read The Count of Monte Cristo. Ugh. Anyways I have exams like uber close and I'll have no time to even _write_ my rough-drafts much less _type_ them. By the way, thanks to TheRecorder for helping me type and rewrite.

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Author's Note:

**About The Superpower:** Though it was my twin pet poet who added the superpower part, it really does exists, never underestimate the power of words, really. My twin has the story-telling power, she can cause suspense over a boring info sentence, I command her to read out everything we've written, you have to experience it to believe it. Also there's a guy in some of our classes with the power of persuasion. One time, in eighth grade, the class did a pretend debate between Napoleon and Snowball for Animal Farm and when he was the spokesperson, there was unanimous vote for his team. He probably does it without knowing. Like my sister once said, "I fear for the jury if he becomes a lawyer; and God help us if he becomes a politician."


End file.
